Greek was his native language, but at the same time he was not, as has
been suggested, entirely ignorant of Hebrew. The Septuagint
translation was the version of the Bible which he habitually used, but
there are passages in his works which show that he knew and
occasionally employed the Hebrew Bible.[50] Moreover, his etymologies
are evidence of his knowledge of the Hebrew language; though he
sometimes gives a symbolic value to Biblical names according to their
Greek equivalent, he more frequently bases his allegory upon a Hebrew
derivation. That all names had a profound meaning, and signified the
true nature of that which they designated, is among the most firmly
established of Philo's ideas. Of his more striking derivations one may
cite Israel, [Hebrew: v-shr-'l], the man who beholdeth God; Jerusalem,
[Hebrew: yrv-shlom], the sight of peace; Hebrew, [Hebrew: 'bri], one who
has passed over from the life of the passions to virtue; Isaac, [Hebrew:
ytshk], the joy or laughter of the soul. These etymologies are more
ingenious than convincing, and are not entirely true to Hebrew philology,
but neither were those of the early rabbis; and they at least show that
Philo had acquired a superficial knowledge of the language of Scripture.
Nor can it be doubted that he was acquainted with the Palestinian Midrash,
both Halakic and Haggadic.
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